Swiss Open 2025: Qualifier Sankar Muthusamy stuns World No. 2 Antonsen to reach quarterfinals
Swiss Open 2025: Qualifier Sankar Muthusamy stuns World No. 2 Antonsen to reach quarterfinals
S. Sankar Muthusamy Subramanian has been playing hard and working harder with his coach Aravindan Samiappan for the last two years but somehow, did not have the results to show for it.
Everything came together in Basel on Thursday night when the 21-year-old, a qualifier from Chennai, created the biggest upset of his career with a huge 18-21, 21-12, 21-5 win over World No. 2 Anders Antonsen of Denmark in the second round of the Swiss Open, BWF World Tour Super 300 event, in Basel, Switzerland.
Sankar, silver medallist at World Junior Championships 2022, had beaten Magnus Johannesen, another Dane, 21-5, 21-16 in the first round. He will next face Frenchman Christo Popov, World No. 31, on Friday for a place in the semifinals. Popov clinched titles at the German Open and Hylo Open last season. He was the runner-up at this year’s German Open.
Speaking to Sportstar on Friday from Basel, Sankar, ranked World No. 64, said, “I’ve been playing well in the Swiss Open, being quite sharp with my strokes more than usual. The win over Antonsen is a huge confidence booster. Of course, all wins are equally good. In fact, the way I’ve played in the tournament against M. Tharun (in the second qualifying round) and in the round of 32 against Magnus Johannesen of Denmark, has been solid. The wins against the two players were equally important.”
On the quarterfinal match against Popov, Sankar said, “Christo’s game is similar to mine in terms of defence. I am looking forward to the match.”
Aravindan was thrilled with his ward’s performance. “It’s huge. It has not sunk in. Actually, we have been working for the last two years on his offence. When he reached the quarterfinals of the Thailand Masters this year, we knew he’ll get the break. He had a few niggles on his right knee from last year, which didn’t turn out to be great. We hope the victory over Antonsen will propel him. Hopefully he will crack the World’s Top 50 soon,” he said.
Later, Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand stormed into the women’s semifinal with a clinical 21-18, 21-14 win over Hong Kong’s Pui Lam Yeung and Nga Ting Yeung.
The Indian pair was not under any real pressure during the entire duration of the match, except when the Hong Kong players managed to make it 15-15 from 9-13 in the first set.
But, Treesa and Gayatri quickly built a 18-15 lead and then bagged the first set.
Toma Popov beat Priyanshu Rajawat 21-15, 21-17 in 47 minutes while Kidambi Srikanth went down 21-15, 21-11 to World No. 6 Li Shi Feng of China.
Among other Indians, Isharani Baruah put up a valiant fight but lost 21-19, 18-21, 21-18 to China’s Han Qian Xi in 63 minutes.
Anupama Upadhyaya was ousted by Indonesia’s world no. 11 Putri Kusuma Wardani as she lost 21-17, 21-19 in another women’s singles match.
The mixed doubles pair of Sathish Karunakaran and Aadya Variyath had a tough outing, going down 21-14, 21-16 to Liu Kuang Heng and Jheng Yu Chieh.
(With inputs from PTI)
Published on Mar 21, 2025
